Piercings
by Therrin-Ninja
Summary: ONESHOT: Ed and Al are back at the Rockbell's for some automail maitenance, but is everything alright with their childhood friend. simple Edwin, short and sweet.


I do not own any of the Fullmetal Alchemist characters

I do not own any of the Fullmetal Alchemist characters. No matter how hard I wish.

-o-o-o-o-o-

This is based between the times that Ed gets his automail, and where the series starts.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Winry! Hey, Winry!" Ed cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed up towards the balcony. His efforts were answered with a wrench narrowly missing his right ear, and instead clipping the tissue that connected to his automail shoulder. He gasped in pain, his left hand flying up to clutch his shoulder while Al jumped back in alarm.

"Ed, don't you dare try to piss me off, 'cause I swear I will__kill you!" the enraged (and what sounded slightly crazed) shout of their childhood friend came from the previously unoccupied balcony where the blond now stood, scowling. Her hair was mussed, and even at that distance, Ed and Al could see the dark marks under her eyes, but they just assumed, knowing Winry, that it was due to an all-nighter. Ed grinned (with his teeth still gritted) nonchalantly, and waved up to her. It was then, as Winry scowled back, that Granny Pinako opened the door to the house.

"Winry! Is that any way to treat guests?"

Winry grumbled something in response, then disappeared into the second floor. The old woman shook her head and turned to the brothers. "Well, what're you to waiting for? Come on in!"

-o-

"Just for maintenance, eh?" Granny Pinako removed her pipe from her mouth and squinted at Ed's automail. True, his balance did look a little off, and the arm could probably do with some help. Tapping her pipe against her lip as she thought, she strolled over to the staircase. "Winry, come down here!"

there was a string of footsteps as Winry appeared down the stairs and looked to her grandmother, a frown of irritation on her face.

"Come now, is that any way to look at her grandmother? Now, I want you to check out Ed's leg and maybe tune up his arm while you're at it."

"fine." The girl strode over to Ed wand began to check out his automail. As she inspected his shoulder, her hair slipped.

"Ear piercings?" Ed stared quizzically at Winry's ear lobes. His left hand automatically reached up to rub his own ear lobe in sympathy. "Why would you willingly have a piece of metal punched through your skin?"

"Oh, sorry we aren't all like you, Mr. I-don't-like-Shots!" snapped Winry "If you can't deal with shots how on earth did you deal with getting automail?"

"Hey, when I was younger, I didn't really mind shots! It was getting Automail that really caused my dislike for shots! What's up with you, anyway?"

"It's my ears! I can't sleep on my side because of the pain! I'm all sleep deprived, and I can't stand it!"

"Well, now you know how much Automail sucks."

Winry's response was to detach Ed's leg, effectively stranding him on the bench where he sat. "Hey!" she marched back upstairs, leg slung over her shoulder.

Granny Pinako rolled her eyes. Winry was being terribly misbehaved. "Here, Ed," she strolled over to a box of lends and pulled out a leg, then walked over to the boy and clipped the leg into place. "why don't you and your brother go outside with Den?"

"'Kay." Ed heaved to his feet, overbalancing a little and pin wheeling. When he finally regained his balance, he went with Al outside.

-o-

Winry scowled down at Ed's leg, lips pursed. There seemed to be a pressure o wither side of her forehead, causing a severe headache, which was not at all helped by the occasional stinging pain shooting through her ear, a constant reminder that indeed, no, you are not supposed to have bits of metal punched through your ears. Not anymore than you were supposed to get Automail. For a second, she thought on having the stinging all through a shoulder and the stump of a leg. No wonder Ed had cried himself to sleep. Then she winced as another pain shot through her lobe. Eventually, she picked up her screwdriver and got back to work on the limb.

-o-

Ed lay back on the riverbank, scowling up at the sky. Al was beside him, picking bits of grass and trying to braid it together.

"Man, is it good to get away from the Colonel for a while." Ed reached out with his hand, probing the grass while still staring at the sky until he found a suitable stalk, inspected it visually, and stuck it in the corner of his mouth. "I can't stand that guy sometimes, all high and mighty."

"We'll have to go back soon, though, " Al glanced up from his efforts, "and you're really late sending in a report."

Ed grumbled in response. "Ah, I wanna avoid Mustang," rolling over onto his stomach, he grimaced and continued, "But I'm already feeling twitchy."

Al sighed.

Suddenly, Ed jumped to his feet, fell over, and staggered upright. "I'm going to the house. You can stay here, if you want."

Al shrugged. "Fine by me."

Ed hurried to the house as fast as his borrowed leg would allow. The reason for this hurry was to check just how far Winry had gotten with his won leg. The sooner it was done, the sooner he could get facing Colonel Jerk-face over with. He would have taken the stairs two at a time, but, slowed again by the borrowed leg, he had to take the stairs at a slower pave, allowing him to notice something he wouldn't have otherwise.

Someone was crying, and it must have been Winry. Quietly, Ed snuck up to the door of the workroom, and laid his ear against the wood.

Winry was sobbing, and it was obviously of frustration. "I can't take it! I just can't! this isn't working with me, and I have a headache, and my ear won't stop hurting, and I just can't deal with this!" there was a clatter of metal, and a bout of heavy sniffing.

Silently, Ed withdrew from the doorway and padded to the bathroom. As quietly as possible, he filled a glass of water and padded back to the workroom. The door was still shut. "Winry?" Ed tapped on the door twice with his knuckles. What sounded like a wrench collided with the other side of the door. Bracing himself, Ed gripped the doorknob and slowly cautioned the door open. Winry sat at the workbench, her face buried in her arms over his automail leg. As Ed entered, she sat up, wiping her eyes dry with the backs of her fists. "What?"

"Thought you might need this." Ed offered a couple of white tablets in his left palm. "Aspirin, for the pain."

Slowly, she reached out and took the aspirins. Then she accepted the glass of water Ed offered with his other hand. Popping the tablets into her mouth, she drained the glass. "Thanks," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes again, "that'll probably help."

Ed stood silently, hands shoved in pockets, then said, "I think you need a break."

"What? But what about your leg? Don't you want that done as soon as possible? And your arm, too!"

"Bah, automail's no good if your mechanic's a wreck. Come on." He grabbed her fore arm, and led her out of the room, down the stairs, and out of the house. There, they were met by Den, tail wagging and tongue lolling. Seeing the dog seemed to do Winry good. She grinned a bit and scratched the dog's ears. Ed dropped his hold on her arm, and took her hand instead. He lead her back towards the river bank, where he could still see Al, but stopped at the top of the slope. He flopped down, pulling her with him, and started searching around. "Dammit, lost my grass stalk . . . "

Winry chuckled. She'd been feeling frustrated and irritable recently, but now she felt calm, relaxed. She grinned a little, and found that she was very comfortable, considering. Smiling, she closed her eyes.

Ed glanced over at her, will, at least she seemed happy now. She was smiling, and she might have been asleep. Carefully, he reached over and put his arm around her.

"thanks, Ed." She murmured, taking him by surprise.

"Y-yeah. Just go to sleep." Winry nodded a little in compliance.

Ed sighed contentedly.

-o-o-o-o-o-

I could have made it 'more interesting' . . . but for god's sake, they're only about 13.

That, and it's just cute this way.

-o-o-o-o-o-

a request was made for an Edwin fanfic, and, as I love Edwin, I wrote this. The inspiration was from the fact that two weeks ago I got another piercing in my left ear, and then last week I got three shots in my left arm. Yeah, falling asleep was hard. Very very vexingly hard.


End file.
